


i think i found a place for us

by nerdyscully (dalecooperscoffee)



Category: Arrested Development
Genre: Birthday Fluff, Domestic Fluff, M/M, Post-Season/Series 04, that's really all this is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-13
Updated: 2018-04-13
Packaged: 2019-04-22 12:59:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14309163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dalecooperscoffee/pseuds/nerdyscully
Summary: No one has cared about Gob's birthday in years.





	i think i found a place for us

**Author's Note:**

> ahh hi okay. i'm kind of nervous, i always am when i post my first fic for a fandom! but this is my first blunder/arrested development fic that i decided to publish. it's very fluffy, but i hope it's alright! not beta'd but i did proofread.
> 
> i looked for canon evidence of gob's age, but i couldn't find any, if it's in some episode i forgot about, sorry! this is a few months after the end of season 4. anyway, don't take my take on gob's age too seriously. i hope you enjoy!

Gob had become so accustomed to waking up to someone else that sleeping alone had become...just that, lonely. He wasn’t sure when he stopped reaching for the pills as soon as he realized he was next to Tony, but he hadn’t even thought about them lately. And he wasn’t sure when him and Tony had become a real “thing”, but he was pretty sure they were. They weren’t living together by any means, but Gob didn’t rush home after waking up in his bed. Sometimes he stayed, and ran his fingers through Tony’s hair while he rested his head on Gob’s chest. Sometimes he even had breakfast with him, and kissed him goodbye.

They didn’t go on “normal dates”; they didn’t go to movies and they preferred home-cooked meals. To be fair, they didn’t have a normal start to their relationship, whatever it was. But Gob  _ did _ feel a little ashamed when Tony asked him, one morning, “How old are you?”

“U-uh, you don’t know?”

Tony looked sheepish. “Sorry. I don’t think you ever told me.”

“I’m…” he hesitated, but he didn’t want to lie. What would be the purpose of that? He prayed Tony would be kind to him, like he always had, “Forty-five.”

Tony grinned. “Same! No, really, same!”

“My birthday is in a couple weeks, though,” Gob admitted. His family hadn’t cared about his birthday in years. Hell, they barely cared to begin with, and after he was 18 they had an excuse not to care. He was an adult. Birthdays got way less fun when you were an adult. 

Tony pestered him for awhile, asking him when it would be, but Gob brushed him off. “Bahh, it’s not that important. I’m not making a big deal out of it.”

Tony raised an eyebrow at that. “You’re not making a big deal out of it?”

“I don’t make a big deal out of  _ everything _ ! C’mon!” he rolled his eyes. “Anyway, I gotta go. I have to...check on my bees.”

“Fine. Can I least have a kiss before you go?”

Gob found something about Tony asking for a kiss with an almost shy tone so charming, he just had to oblige him. Not that it took much convincing to get him to kiss Tony these days.

* * *

When Gob rolled over in Tony’s bed a few weeks later, his brows knitted together as he realized Tony wasn’t next to him. Had he done something? They had gone several days without seeing each other up until last night. And last night was good--no,  _ really _ good--maybe the best they’d ever had, so it couldn’t have been that. And Tony didn’t mind when Gob teased him, so he hoped it wasn’t anything he had said. He was staring at the ceiling agonizing over it when he heard the door creak open, and Tony was standing there in Gob’s own white t-shirt and holding a tray.

“Happy birthday, Gob.”

Gob felt tears fill his eyes. “You-you-you did this for...for me? But-but-but I didn’t even t-t-tell you that-that…”

“Shhh.” Tony placed the tray on Gob’s lap, chuckling a little at his stammering. “I looked up your birthday on Facebook. I wasn’t just going to let it pass and not do anything.”

Gob looked down at tray; Tony had made him pancakes and coffee (he even remembered how he took it--three creams and two sugars). “Th-thanks, Tony.”

“Happy forty-sixth birthday.”

“I guess I’m getting old,” he half-smiled. 

“Old? You’re the best looking forty-six year old I know,” he kissed his cheek.

They shared the pancakes together and talked about how they slept and the little dreams they had. “Are you wearing my t-shirt?” Gob asked Tony, just to make sure.

Tony nodded, looking a little uncharacteristically sheepish. Gob secretly thought it was simultaneously the cutest and sexiest Tony had ever looked, but he didn’t know if he could admit it out loud yet, so he settled for, “I like it.”

They finished breakfast, and Tony put the tray to the side so he could get closer to Gob. “Hey, um, thanks for this.” Gob said. “My family won’t remember, you know, and I used to try to remind them, but I kinda gave it up after awhile.”

“You’re welcome. I made dinner reservations at Little Ballroom, and then maybe we can do a movie after? Or whatever you want?”

“Like-like a date?”

“Well, duh,” he laughed a little. “That’s what we’re doing, isn’t it? Dating?”

Gob wondered (pun unintended) why he had never really come out and admitted that to himself. Tony was his...boyfriend. While the word had made him scared just a month ago, now it felt comfortable, natural. It felt like hearing the clatter of plates making breakfast in the kitchen and seeing Tony wear his t-shirts. Boyfriends. Yeah.

“Yeah. Dating.” he smiled.

“I know we haven’t really gone out yet. So it’s kind of weird. But I just was worried about people...you know. Taking pictures of us and people saying stuff. I know you have an image and--”

“I don’t care. Let’s go out. Who cares if some pictures are in Poof?” he had always wanted in Poof anyway. 

Tony smiled. “Okay. We’ll go out. It’ll be great.”

“Hey, uh, Tony? I-I…” he knew what he wanted to say, but he was scared of where it could go and what could become of it. “Iloveyou.” he said as if it were all one word, and looked away.

Tony traced his hand up and down Gob’s arm. “You, too, Gob,” and it was comfortable and warm and they were  _ boyfriends _ and it was Gob’s birthday and he couldn’t ask for anything more.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading, comments are my favorite thing in the world, please consider leaving one! xoxox


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